Abstraktion und Einfühlung
Percival Everett enriches the ranks of Chris Abani’s acclaimed Black Goat poetry series.
Subject: Black Interest
Featured Black Interest Titles
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HNIC
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Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
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Sale
Nelson George Two Book Set
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Home Girl
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Mr. Loverman
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The Book of Harlan
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Becoming Abigail
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We Matter: Athletes and Activism
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Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story
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Dance of the Jakaranda
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New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Tano)
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All or Nothing
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Climb: Taking Every Step with Conviction, Courage, and Calculated Risk to Achieve a Thriving Career and a Successful Life
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The Gospel According to Cane
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New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Sita)
The Accidental Hunter
The long-awaited reissue of the book that introduced mystery fans to bodyguard-turned-investigator D Hunter.
All or Nothing
What William S. Burroughs’ Junky was to heroin addiction, All or Nothing is to gambling, only more prophetic.
Amiri Baraka 3-for-1 Sale!
For a limited time, purchase three of Amiri Baraka’s titles (Tales of the Out & the Gone, Black Music, and Home: Social Essays) together for only $16.95!
Among the Bloodpeople: Politics & Flesh
Concerns with human rights, political oppression, sexuality, race, and Jamaican culture thematically connect these essays.
The Angels’ Share
A Jamaican father and his adult son travel across the island together in a touching and humorous novel that explores family reconciliation.
Anna In-Between
Trade paperback reissue of Elizabeth Nunez’s new novel, a New York Times Editors’ Choice.
Around Harvard Square
Race, class, and hormones combine and combust when a Harvard freshman and his two friends attempt to join the staff of the Harpoon, the school’s iconic humor magazine.
The Baker’s Son: My Life in Business
An inspirational rags-to-riches memoir by the founder of the most successful Caribbean business ever established in the US.
Bandits & Bibles: Convict Literature in Nineteenth-Century America
What was life like for the gangs of New York and others thrown into the nineteenth-century slammer?
Becoming Abigail
A breathtaking novella from the award-winning author of Song for Night and GraceLand.
Bedrock Faith
A deeply engaging debut novel about a morality clash in an insular Chicago neighborhood.
The Bernice L. McFadden Collection
Four Bernice L. McFadden classics collected into a single digital edition.
**All orders placed directly from our website are for paperback editions of the books.**
Bernice L. McFadden Digit
In honor of her 2012 New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year selection—and in anticipation of the just-released paperback edition of Nowhere Is a Place, our Bernice L. McFadden Digit features excerpts from all four of her Akashic titles: Gathering of Waters, The Warmest December, Glorious, and Nowhere Is a Place.
Bivouac
The death of a Jamaican man’s father raises questions about the father’s political endeavors, and about the plight of 1980s Jamaica.
Black History Digit
In celebration of the release of Black History Month, our Black History Digit includes excerpts from our two February Releases—Nowhere Is a Place by Bernice L. McFadden and The Gospel According to Cane by Courttia Newland—along with Chris Abani’s Becoming Abigail and Kola Boof’s The Sexy Part of the Bible.
Black Lotus
Finding the Black Lotus murderer is Detective Wolf’s chance to avoid an Internal Affairs investigation. That’s when things get personal.
Black Marks
A powerful tale of a young woman’s quest to unearth her identity, lost between cultures and families.
Black Music
The long-awaited reissue of the sequel to Amiri Baraka’s seminal work, BLUES PEOPLE, and latest selection in the AkashiClassics Renegade Reprint Series. This collection of essays by Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones includes a new introduction by the author and Q&A by Calvin Reid.
Black Orchid Blues
Front Page meets Harlem Nights: a riveting and racy historical mystery set in 1920s Harlem.
Black Sheep Digit
In conjunction with the publication of Pills and Starships by Lydia Millet—the latest release from our Black Sheep imprint for Young Adults and Young Readers—we’ve created the Black Sheep Digit, comprising excerpts from Pills and Starships and our first two Black Sheep releases, Changers Book One: Drew by T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper and Game World by C. J. Farley.
The Book of Harlan
During World War II, two African American musicians are captured by the Nazis in Paris and imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Boundaries
A powerful immigrant story of family, love, assimilation, and a provocative look inside the contemporary book business.
Bronx Biannual Issue No. 2: The Literary Journal of Urbane Urban Literature
The second issue of the groundbreaking new literary journal.
Bronx Biannual: The Literary Journal of Urbane Urban Literature
A literary journal’s debut featuring writing from: Donnell Alexander, Federico Anderson, Dana Crum, Michael A. Gonzales, KRS-One, Michael C. Ladd, Ferentz Lafargue, Reginald Lewis, Adam Mansbach, Caille Millner, muMs, and Greg Tate.
Cake
The highly anticipated second title from Akashic’s groundbreaking street-lit imprint, The Armory, curated by author Kenji Jasper.
Caribbean Debuts Digit
The free Caribbean Debuts Digit features excerpts from four great debut works of fiction in our catalog: Drifting by Katia D. Ulysse, The Night of the Rambler by Montague Kobbé, The Roving Tree by Elsie Augustave (Haiti), and John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James.
Caught Up
Author of the mega–best seller B-More Careful (350,000 sales) is back with an irresistible hard-boiled crime story.
Changers Book Two: Oryon
In Book Two of the Changers Series, our protagonist undergoes a second transformation—returning to a male body.
Climb: Taking Every Step with Conviction, Courage, and Calculated Risk to Achieve a Thriving Career and a Successful Life
A professional playbook offering guidance to women in the contemporary workplace.
Coming Up Hot: Eight New Poets from the Caribbean
Eight talented Caribbean poets are featured in this second publication from Peekash Press.
Conduit
Chris Abani’s acclaimed Black Goat series presents the debut collection from one of America’s most promising young poets.
Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
Nearly forty years after breaking his way into public consciousness, the indefatigable godfather of indie features and African American cinema presents a graphic novel that serves as the inspiration for his latest film.
Dance of the Jakaranda
Kimani reimagines the rise and fall of colonialism in Africa by telling the story of the birth of Kenya’s railroad.
Discretion
Elizabeth Nunez’s reissued fourth novel is a haunting, mesmerizing exploration into the often destructive price of passion.
Dog War
The highly anticipated new novel and debut US publication from the legendary Jamaican author of The Lunatic and The Duppy.
The Duppy
Oddball sexuality, acts of perversion, and out-of-order behavior from the acclaimed Jamaican author of The Lunatic and Dog War.
How funny is this social satire? Akashic Books’s pledge to our readers: Laugh out loud at least once or your money back. Seriously.
eel on reef
A truly exciting American debut from a Nigerian writer on Chris Abani’s new poetry imprint, Black Goat, with an introduction by Kwame Dawes.
Eight New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set
This nine-piece box set, an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project, features the work of eight African poets.
Even in Paradise
A modern-day King Lear, a novel of greed, resentment, jealousy, betrayal, and romance set in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados.
Every Boy Should Have a Man
Echoing Jonathan Swift, Preston L. Allen breaks new ground with a novel that is part allegory, part fantasy.
The Family Mansion
An illuminating and unflinching novel exploring England’s 19th-century colonization of Jamaica.
Frederick Douglass in Brooklyn
A fascinating collection of Frederick Douglass’s always-controversial speeches in Brooklyn, New York.
The Freedom Artist
An impassioned plea for freedom and justice, set in a world uncomfortably like our own, by the Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri.
The Game Don’t Change
The posthumous novel from legendary Queens rapper Mazaradi Fox, who was once a member of 50 Cent’s G-Unit crew.
Game World
Launching Akashic’s new Black Sheep YA imprint, an adventure novel in a video game turned reality, with giant spiders, malevolent hummingbirds, a not-quite-yellow-brick road, and preteen children learning how to be heroes!
Gathering of Waters
Following her best-selling, award-winning novel Glorious, McFadden produces a fantastical historical novel featuring the spirit of Emmett Till.
Getting It Right
Half-sisters Kara and Alex—one the biracial product of foster care, the other of dysfunctional privilege—struggle for redemption and forgiveness.
The Girl with the Golden Shoes
A dazzling coming-of-age novella, now an Essence Magazine best seller, by Jamaica’s top-selling writer.
Globetrotter & Hitler’s Children
The latest installment in Chris Abani’s critically-acclaimed Black Goat poetry series.
God Carlos
A provocative and persuasive historical novel exploring the Spanish brutality against native Indians in early 16th-century Jamaica.
Gomer’s Song
Award-winning poet Kwame Dawes explores the insidious nature of power and the limits of protest for Chris Abani’s Black Goat poetry series.
The Gospel According to Cane
After her infant son is kidnapped, Beverley Cottrell’s marriage fails. Years later, could a mysterious, lurking young man be her long-lost son?
Hadriana in All My Dreams
Legendary Haitian author Depestre combines magic, fantasy, eroticism, and delirious humor to explore universal questions of race and sexuality.
Haiti Noir
Akashic recruits Danticat, one of the truly great contemporary writers, to edit this timely volume featuring stories set both before and after the devastating 2010 earthquake.
Haiti Noir 2: The Classics
The best anthology of classic Haitian fiction ever assembled, unparalleled in scope.
The Half That’s Never Been Told: The Real-Life Reggae Adventures of Doctor Dread
A passionate memoir and fearless behind-the-scenes look at the personal lives of the biggest reggae stars in the world.
A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid (A Novel)
Veteran authors Everett and Kincaid present an uproarious send-up of one of America’s most controversial American icons.
HNIC
Prodigy, from the legendary hip-hop group Mobb Deep, launches Akashic’s new Infamous Books imprint with a story of loyalty, vengeance, and greed.
HNIC (limited edition signed package)
Prodigy, from the legendary hip-hop group Mobb Deep, launches Akashic’s new Infamous Books imprint with a story of loyalty, vengeance, and greed.
Home Girl
When Naomi, a fourteen-year-old white girl, is placed with a black foster care family, her life takes some dramatic twists and turns.
Home: Social Essays
A seminal Jones/Baraka literary land mine that launches AkashiClassics: Renegade Reprint Series.
The Hungered One
Akashic launches an African American–focused reprint series with this classic story collection.
I Am a Promise
An inspiring children’s picture book about the indomitable spirit of Jamaican six-time Olympic medal winner Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce.
I Love You Too
Bob Marley’s first and most famous son, Ziggy, extends his devotion to youth with his debut children’s book.
Iron Balloons: Hit Fiction From Jamaica’s Calabash Writer’s Workshop
Jamaica’s literary lion Colin Channer presents new fiction from the freshest young Jamaican authors and the Calabash International Literary Festival’s Extended Family.
John Crow’s Devil
The long-awaited paperback reissue of the acclaimed Jamaican author’s debut novel.
Kingston Noir (Jamaica)
Following in the Caribbean footsteps of Haiti Noir and Trinidad Noir, now come dark stories from Jamaica’s capital city.
Knucklehead
A fierce, intelligent, and often hilarious novel about a young African American attorney who struggles to keep his cool in the personally and politically turbulent ’90s.
Lagos Noir (Nigeria)
West Africa enters the Noir Series arena, meticulously edited by one of Nigeria’s best-known authors.
Limbo
An African American man confronts a heart of darkness when his family moves from Los Angeles to a small town in Norway.
Lost Canyon
In Revoyr’s most thrilling novel to date, four backpackers embark on a trip in the Sierra Nevada that quickly becomes a disaster.
The Lost Treasures of R&B: A D Hunter Mystery
D Hunter, bodyguard-turned-PI, is back, investigating a murder that lures him into the heart of rhythm-and-blues history.
Loving Donovan
A long-awaited reissue of this deeply thoughtful novel about hope, forgiveness, and the cost of loving Donovan, a complex man with a shattered history.
The Lunatic
The first-ever US publication of the Caribbean comic classic that is also a major motion picture.
Makeda
The debut title from Akashic’s Open Lens imprint: a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind, from the nationally best-selling author Randall Robinson.
May Digit
Excerpts from our three May releases: Every Boy Should Have a Man by Preston L. Allen, The Family Mansion by Anthony C. Winkler, and the second installment in the Open Lens imprint, The Roving Tree by Elsie Augustave.
Mr. Loverman
A groundbreaking, hilarious novel about two elder gay Caribbean men coming to terms with being closeted in a changing world.
Nairobi Noir (Kenya)
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o anchors this truly fascinating first East African installment in the Akashic Noir Series.
The Necessary Hunger
Akashic Books reissues Nina Revoyr’s inspired and groundbreaking 1997 debut novel about women’s basketball, class, racial identity, and friendship.
Nelson George Two Book Set
For a limited time, purchase both The Lost Treasures of R&B and The Plot Against Hip Hop together for only $15!
New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean
Discover some of the best in speculative short fiction from the Caribbean’s up-and-coming voices.
New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Nne)
This eleven-piece, limited-edition box set—an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project—features the work of ten new African poets.
New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Sita)
This eleven-piece, limited-edition box set—an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project—features the work of ten new African poets.
New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Tano)
This twelve-piece, limited-edition box set—an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project—features the work of eleven new African poets.
New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Tatu)
This limited-edition nine-piece box set, an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project, features the work of new African poets.
Not for Everyday Use
A riveting memoir in which Nunez comes to grips with her mother’s passing and her parents’ ambition for their children.
Nowhere Is a Place
The long-awaited reissue of McFadden’s classic novel about a young woman on a journey of self-discovery.
On the Way Back
Kobbé’s hilarious social novel centers on a comically failed business venture on the island of Anguilla, brilliantly echoing A Confederacy of Dunces and Herman Wouk’s Don’t Stop the Carnival.
Party: A Mystery
A beautifully illustrated story of three girls caught up in the most curious of mysteries.
**While supplies last, copies ordered here will be SIGNED by the illustrator, Ricardo Cortés!
Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean
A pan-Caribbean anthology of original short stories culled from the very best entries to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
The Plot Against Hip Hop
A bad-ass noir novel set in hip hop culture, by best-selling and critically-acclaimed author Nelson George.
Praise Song for the Butterflies (SIGNED!)
A young woman must learn to love and trust again after experiencing the brutality of ritual servitude in West Africa.
**While supplies last, paperback copies ordered here will be SIGNED by Bernice L. McFadden!
Pressure Makes Diamonds: Becoming the Woman I Pretended to Be
The powerful memoir of a female African American advertising executive’s unprecedented and unlikely success, which began in the Mad Men era.
Prospero’s Daughter
The reissue of Elizabeth Nunez’s captivating novel Prospero’s Daughter, a brilliantly conceived retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Providential
Best-selling writer Colin Channer’s debut poetry collection tackles the unlikely literary figure of the Jamaican policeman.
Revolutionary Threads: Rastafari, Social Justice, and Cooperative Economics
An American Rasta’s retelling of episodes in American history with an anti-colonial thrust and a view toward charting a brighter future.
The Roving Tree
A powerful debut novel illuminating how adoptees struggle to recapture their personal histories and cultural legacy, part of Akashic’s Open Lens imprint.
Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don’t Have Bruises
An authentic and riveting hip-hop memoir in the Joan Didion tradition from Bronx native Lewis.
The Sexy Part of the Bible
Romance and political intrigue cloud the many lives of a diabolical African supermodel harboring a shocking secret.
A Simple Distance
A provocative debut that masterfully fuses issues of culture, race, sexuality, and family.
So Many Islands: Stories from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific Oceans
Brand-new fiction, essays, and poems from seventeen island countries around the world.
So Much Things to Say: 100 Poets from the First Ten Years of the Calabash International Literary Festival
Robert Pinsky and Derek Walcott anchor this groundbreaking, soulful poetry collection.
Song for Night
Chris Abani’s new novella furthers his reputation as the most acclaimed young African writer today.
The Spring Thrills Digit
Excerpts from By the Balls: The Complete Collection by Jim Pascoe and Tom Fassbender, Heart of the Old Country by Tim McLoughlin, Southland by Nina Revoyr, and The Plot Against Hip Hop by Nelson George.
Swing
An erotic drama about four sexy couples and one swingers’ club where their fantasies and nightmares collide.
The System of Dante’s Hell
A reissue of a 1965 novel, a remarkable narrative of childhood and youth, spiraling out of Dante’s Inferno.
Tales
This reissue of a 1967 story collection shows a mind in motion, featuring writing that is provocative, witty, bitter, and aggressive.
Tales of the Out & the Gone
Controversial literary legend Amiri Baraka’s new short story collection—an Essence Magazine best-seller—will shock and awe.
A Tall History of Sugar
A haunting, epic Caribbean love story, reminiscent of García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera.
Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story
A timely memoir about world record–breaking Tyus’s 1964 and 1968 Olympic victories, amid the turbulence of the 1960s, along with contemporary reflections.
To Funk and Die in LA
Ex-bodyguard D Hunter is swept into the City of Angels on a dark mission to find his mysterious grandfather’s killer.
Trinidad Noir
The Caribbean provides no shelter from the delicious terror of the Akashic Noir Series.
An Unkindness of Ghosts
A breathtaking science fiction debut from a worthy successor to Octavia Butler.
The Warmest December
The long-awaited reissue of McFadden’s best-selling second novel praised by Toni Morrison, USA Today, Washington Post, and others—published simultaneously with McFadden’s new novel Gathering of Waters.
We Matter: Athletes and Activism
In interviews and essays, high-profile activist athletes explore the intersection of sports and politics.
What Is Hip-Hop?
A beautifully illustrated children’s history of hip-hop, from a progressive/idealistic perspective.
The White House
One house . . . one robbery . . . one mistake . . . sexual intrigue and violence intermingle in this tense urban thriller.
You Throw Like a Girl: The Blind Spot of Masculinity
Former NFL quarterback McPherson examines the roots of masculinity gone awry and how it promotes violence against women.
Forthcoming Titles
African
Forthcoming: 6/2/20
A beautiful children’s picture book featuring the lyrics of Peter Tosh’s global classic celebrating children of African descent.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship out on June 2, 2020!
New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Saba)
Forthcoming: 7/28/20
This twelve-piece, limited-edition box set—an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project—features the work of eleven new African poets.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship out on or before July 28, 2020!
Addis Ababa Noir (Ethiopia)
Forthcoming: 8/4/20
Award-winning novelist Mengiste artfully ushers the City of Humans, Ethiopia’s bustling capital, into the Noir Series arena.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before August 4, 2020.
The Darkest Hearts
Forthcoming: 8/4/20
Trap music, human trafficking, malt liquor, and the tyranny of President Trump collide in the fifth installment of Nelson George’s D Hunter mystery series.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship out on or before August 4, 2020!
You Can Keep That to Yourself: A Comprehensive List of What Not to Say to Black People, for Well-Intentioned People of Pallor
Forthcoming: 9/1/20
At long last, a much-needed guidebook for well-intentioned people of pallor on what not to say to their African American “friends.”
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before September 1, 2020.
Move the Crowd
Forthcoming: 10/6/20
Innovative illustrator Kirk Parrish brings the iconic song “Move the Crowd” to life for the first time as a children’s picture book.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before October 6, 2020.
Cane Warriors
Forthcoming: 10/20/20
Moa, a fourteen-year-old slave, gets caught up in the most significant slave rebellion in Jamaican history, paying homage to freedom fighters all over the world.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before October 20, 2020.
Black Lotus 2: The Vow
Forthcoming: 11/3/20
After the death of a police officer, assassin Kahllah (a.k.a. the Black Lotus) is forced out of retirement in an attempt to clear her name while outrunning a mysterious enemy.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before November 3, 2020.
A Million Aunties
Forthcoming: 11/17/20
American-born artist Chris is forced to reconsider his conception of family during a visit to his mother’s Caribbean homeland.
Accra Noir (Ghana)
Forthcoming: 12/1/20
Accra joins Lagos, Nairobi, Marrakech, and Addis Ababa in representing the African continent in the Noir Series arena.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before December 1, 2020.
Prayer for the Living
Forthcoming: 2/2/21
Topical and timely, Booker Prize–winning author Ben Okri’s new collection of short stories blurs parallel realities and walks the line between darkness and magic.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before February 2, 2021.